UW-Green Bay History

In 1965, the Wisconsin Legislature authorized a new degree-granting campus of the University of Wisconsin for Northeastern Wisconsin, an area of the state served at that time by centers offering freshman and sophomore courses. The city of Green Bay, which was then the home of a UW center enrolling approximately 1,000 students, was selected for the new university.

The Green Bay center was integrated into the new University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in the fall of 1968, when the first junior and senior level courses were offered at the old Deckner Center on Green Bay’s east side. By fall 1969, the new degree-granting university opened for classes in three academic buildings on the Shorewood site along the bay. The first commencement took place on June 1, 1970.

Today, UW-Green Bay includes 13 major buildings for instruction and services to students and a student housing complex of 24 apartment and residence hall buildings. Other features of the campus are an arboretum linking natural areas along the University’s boundary, a golf course, waterfront recreation area, a newly expanded University Union, and sports center.